Jose Rizal

Jose Rizal was a native of the island of Luzon, of which Manila is the capital. He was therefore a Malay, with the brown complexion, black eyes and straight, black hair which are the physical characteristics of his race. He graduated from the University of Madrid as doctor of medicine and philosophy. He pursued his graduate studies in Paris, Heidelberg, Leipzig and Berlin. Returning to his home in Manila he wrote and published a novel, …

…free; I go where are no torturers, where the oppressor's power shall be Destroyed, where faith kills not, where he who reigns is God. Farewell, my parents, brothers, friends of my childhood days, Dear fragments of my heart, once to my bosom pressed Round our lost hearth. Give thanks to God in glad tranquility, That after day's long weary hours, I sleep eternally. Farewell, beloved friends and stranger sweet; to die is but to rest.